Synergy at work.
Brunch + through the window bird count for the RSPB today – a star performance from five long-tailed tits through the rosemary bush. No sign of the finches when we were doing our count, but the sparrowhawk came and perched on the veg bed so I am not surprised!
Zeb Bakes 
Birdwatching is such hungry work!
I started yesterday’s birdwatch with a sparrowhawk in the garden, and it visited again at the end of the hour. Such frequent visits might explain why the numbers of small birds seem to have fallen – they’re too scared to spend much time here (or they’ve been eaten).
Today the rarer visitors were a small group of redwings and a jay.
Very jealous of the redwings – we had a small flock for two days at the beginning of January – a one off I think for us! The sparrowhawks are definitely taking advantage of the urban birdfeeders these days. We get the peregrine through too sometimes – they take the pigeons off the apex of the garage…
Oh those muffins look great, I’ll have them also on my list
They look lovely – I’m definitely making this recipe ASAP, which will be when I’ve eaten through some of the mountain of bread currently in my freezer. My colleagues are more than happy to accept cake, but I don’t think bread would go down so well… perhaps I should try though, nothing ventured nothing gained!
I didn’t take part in the birdwatch – I don’t get many round here, but wish I’d been at my mums – she seems to get lots of little birds.
I spotted those cornmeal muffins on Dan’s Guardian site – thanks for trying them out for me! How wonderful that you can spot so many birds in your own garden!
I was thinking about some polenta action recently, mine needs using up. These look like they will do just the job.
May I just say, “YUM!”?
And happy bird watching!
As several of you are thinking about doing them too.. .
On the muffins…
I will use less liquid another time as the dough was quite sticky and loose, might be the type of maize meal I used. If you have a go at them, I’d start with 325 – 350 g water – you can always incorporate more water if the dough feels too firm.
Oh dear, I am going to have to get a look at that Dan Lepard cook/bread book. I love anything with corn and/or cornmeal.
I ,too, watch and count birds for a project here in the US, called Project Feederwatch by Cornell University. Birds are a staple around here, and bread too!
Anet, you don’t need the book to read Dan Lepard’s Guardian recipes. Though he has some lovely cornmeal recipes in his book which are different.
They are all published online by The Guardian as well as in the newswpaper. Also if you go to Dan’s website, there is a forum there and the recipes are reprinted there and people write with questions, comments and pictures. Here’s a link to that part of the forum. Dan Lepard The Guardian Recipes
Birds and Bread forever :)
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Made those muffins yesterday, Joanna… they turned out delicious, and I should thank you for the tip about the water: spot on!